Dave Arian, VP of LA Port Commission, and Supervisor Janice Hahn lead the riders along the waterfront. Metro Bike Share is a new transportation that opened in the communities of San Pedro and Wilmington Monday. July 31, 2017. (Brad Graverson/Daily Breeze/SCNG)

Now, you don’t need your own bike to ride along the evolving waterfront in San Pedro and Wilmington.

Los Angeles Metro officials unveiled the Los Angeles Waterfront bike share program Monday in San Pedro that allows visitors to hop on a rented bike to get around — or just to go for a cruise and enjoy the views.

And the timing is perfect, officials said, as the LA Waterfront continues to undergo a transformation to offer more recreational uses. The bikes also will be ready for CicLAvia on Aug. 13, when a community bike ride will run from Wilmington to San Pedro.

The bikes lock automatically when wheeled into a docking station and are unlocked with the use of a Metro TAP card or credit card.

Annual flex passes are $40 a year, with each ride costing an additional $1.75. Occasional users can purchase a single 30-minute ride for $3.50 with a credit card at one of the station kiosks.

As for the question of whether the bikes can be stolen, Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said it wouldn’t be easy.

The bikes are ID’d at the docks through TAP cards used to check them out. Users also face mounting credit card charges if the bikes aren’t brought back.

“There are proprietary parts on them that prevent them from being dissembled easily, it’s something that would require specialized tools,” Sotero said. “And they’re branded (visibly) as Metro bikes. The vendor hasn’t had a theft problem in downtown or overall.”

Metro Bike Share is now in Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles — to date, more than 200,000 trips have been made on the system — with an expansion to Venice planned for later this summer. With all the planned stations, the program will bring some 1,400 bicycles at up to 125 stations countywide.

The bike share program, said Seleta Reynolds, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, “represents freedom and joy and a great city.”

Links to public transit

By design, the bike stations are close to Metro’s regular transit stops, though the waterfront segment will be more geared to recreational riding.

A single pre-registered Metro TAP fare card can be used to ride Metro bus and rail lines, along with the bikes, making it among the nation’s most integrated systems.

The heavy-frame “clunker” bikes come with adjustable seats, puncture-resistant tires, hand brakes, baskets and generous wheel guards to protect clothing. They offer three speeds to help with inclines.

Donna Littlejohn has covered the Harbor Area as a reporter since 1981. Along with development, politics, coyotes, battleships and crime, she writes features that have spotlighted an array of topics, from an alligator on the loose in a city park to the modern-day cowboys who own the trails on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. She loves border collies and Aussie dogs, cats, early California Craftsman architecture and most surviving old stuff. She imagines the 1970s redevelopment sweep that leveled so much of San Pedro's historic waterfront district as very sad.